Stupid TV Executives

How could Fox have taken Arrested Development off the air? I’m sitting here watching the DVD for season three and I’m in tears – I can’t help but laugh at the antics of the Bluth family.

Crank review

I’ve put up my review for the gentle and sweet film called Crank. Well, maybe not so gentle and not so sweet. Anyway, here’s the review.

Vacation Day

I’m taking a day off today to just be a lazy bum and am partially succeeding at that goal. I did have to turn in a video review and wrote that up this morning. If you’re interested I wrote about “The Matador” – a fun little movie.

This weekend I need to review “The Guardian” and get a ton of homework done. I am so unmotiviated to do the homework. Of course, this is a lifelong pattern for me.

I also am discouraged and depressed over the national doings of what I would have considered my fine country. When we debate, and then vote on, allowing torture and ignoring the Geneva Convention then I have to say that my country’s values no longer match my moral values. Sigh. I think I’ll go roll up in a fetal ball and ignore the world.
I needed this vacation day.

My heart must go on…and on…and on

Well, that was satisfying. A movie often mocked and derided proved just the thing to keep me company tonight. I don’t care what anyone says, I still love Titanic.

Young love, hot sex, a spectacular disaster, good special effects, and what’s-her-face singing about her heart going on as the credits roll. What more could I want?

Yeah, I do need to get a life.

Saving the day – a real hero

Sometimes the best action is no action at all and one man kept the world save by delaying action. Yesterday was the anniversary of Colonel Petrov’s daring lack of action. From ITPRO by way of Rising Hegemon:

On 26th September 1983 the hero of the day, Colonel Stanislav Yefgrafovich Petrov, clocked on for work as normal. Petrov was in charge of the Soviet Union’s satellite warning systems and this was the height of the cold war. Everyone was on edge because NATO was carrying out its annual tactical exercises and two weeks before the Soviets had shot down a Korean airliner that had wandered into the wrong airspace.

Meanwhile in the wider picture Ronald Reagan was publicly calling the Soviet Union an ‘Evil Empire’, the warm up man at a UK Conservative party rally had opened with the call to “Bomb Russia” and we had Andropov, a former leader of the KGB, as the current ruler of the Kremlin. Things were, to put it mildly, on a hair trigger…

…Anyway, at 40 minutes past midnight on the 26th Petrov looked up and saw a missile launch from a United States silo had been detected by one of his satellites. Now you might expect panic at this point but missile command tends to attract the serious, sober type, probably the type of people who smoke a pipe and sew leather patches on their jackets, and Petrov kept his head.

He knew the satellite had been reported as suspect and decided to hold off on informing the high command. Then a second missile launch was picked up, and shortly after another, and another and another. Petrov knew that if he waited until he could confirm the launches with ground radar it would be too late for his country, he and his family would die and the Yankees would win the Cold War.

Thankfully for us he thought before acting. He reasoned that it was illogical for a surprise attack to launch missiles one after the other – instead you’d launch everything you had and hope to wipe out the enemy before they reacted. He left the launch button alone and thankfully the missiles proved to be ghosts.

Myself and millions other slept peacefully in our beds that night, blissfully unaware of how close we came to fiery death or a worse existence than we could imagine if we had lived. Had the missiles flown Britain would, according to government war plan projections, currently be at a medieval level of technology in most places, having lost 90 per cent of its population.

Petrov was reprimanded and now lives in the scientific community of Fryazino in Russia. He was honoured this year in a ceremony at the United Nations and has been honoured with two World Citizen Awards. So take some time out today and say your private thanks to the man who saved the world.

There’s something about a person who uses their brain to make the world a better place. Petrov’s willingness to buck the rules may have saved millions of lives.

Tantrum time

I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to go to work. And I don’t want to do my dang homework either.

The above message was brought to you by my inner brat, Francine.

Old Classmates

I imagine many of us have signed up at Classmates, but never expected much from it. Well, quelle surprise! A classmate from grade school – yes, GRADE SCHOOL – contacted me through Classmates. Kathy’s email brought back all kinds of memories. Shoot, she even brought up one of them. I had a slumber party out in Harquahala Valley. My mom was dating a farmer who had a place out there (about an hour and a half to the west of Phoenix). Kathy reminded me of the fun.

I remember going over to Kathy’s house on the way home from school and we’d watch Lost in Space reruns. She lived in central Phoenix in what is now referred to as an historical district. At the time they were just old houses – houses with porches.

It’s funny to hear from someone you haven’t seen in 30 years. Kathy and I ended up going to the same high school. Our 30th high school reunion is next month, but I don’t seem interested enough in going. I haven’t been to any of them so far and as someone who did NOT graduate it always seemed kind of weird to go. Still, after hearing from Kathy it does seem more appealing.

Anyone of you using Classmates hear from your school buddies?

Wow

A movie I’ve always heard about, but never seen is now in my DVD player. Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai is an amazing movie. The story, actors, and direction is outstanding. It’s an action film with heart and smarts. Over 3 hours long, the film is never boring. My only regret about the film? I could have seen it on a big screen on camput, but backed on going. This movie needs a big screen.

Anyway, bandits are attacking the village, I must return to film. All I can say is wow.

PS: I wrote this last night while watching the movie. I was so engrossed I didn’t realize that I never posted it!

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World review

I surf the web reading things that get my dander up, but can’t seem to find a way to create a post about them here. Well, the one thing I can do when my blogging energy lags is to post one of my reviews. Hallelujah for pre-canned writing! 😉

The review for Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World was written as a DVD review at the end of August and printed in the local entertainment paper the first Thursday in September. If anyone’s interested the newspaper I write for part-time as one of the four movie reviewers is Flag Live. You can view the online version of Flag Live here.

Anyway, as for Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, you can read that review here. It’s pure Albert Brooks. The laughs are scattered, but there’s a few hearty laughs watching the movie. I used to be part of an improv group and his take on doing improv was just too painfully funny.

Everyone’s Hero and a serious lack of history

Aaaagh! I had to review Everyone’s Hero this weekend and was rather looking forward to it. Well, let’s just say it wasn’t an optimum experience for me. The plot was mediocre and allowed for great shredding of any kind of logic. Kids who love baseball may find it fun, though I didn’t hear any laughing while I was there. For me it was a form of torture. At a certain point in the film I was ready to scream “NOOOO!!!!” I didn’t, but it was hard to maintain my silence.

The way this movie plays fast and loose with history just drove me crazy. First of all, I do have to mention fashion. It is the 1930s. All the women in this animated film look like they sprang from the early 1960s, but with longer skirts. I don’t remember flipped up hairdos as the style. Also, do we hear any of the music from the period? No.

I did enjoy the fact that we got to see some Negro League players in action. That allows for a nice touch. I needed something nice to help me handle the illogic and inaccuracy of the Yankees and Cubs history.

Did you know that Babe Ruth only hit so well because of his magic bat, Darlin’? You didn’t? Well, in this movie that’s the case. Ugh.

I began to have problems with the baseball plot developments when the owner of the Cubs and one of the cheating pitchers, Lefty, on the team plot to steal Babe’s bat. The Cubs as bad guys? What the hell? Plus, who is this Cubs owner, this Mr. Robinson? Where’s the Wrigleys? Remember, Wrigley Field (that the animators gave light stands way before the Cubs played night games)? Yes, I checked. The Wrigleys owned the Cubs throughout a good chunk of the 20th century before the Tribune syndicate bought it.

It’s Depression-era America and the Yankees are playing the Cubs in the World Series. Yes, this did happen in 1932. Of course, in Everyone’s Hero this becomes a drawn-out series leading to the dramatic final game. Sigh. Unfortunately for Cubs fans it did not go this way. The Cubs were swept by the Yankees. They also met again in 1938 with the same result.

The movie has Babe Ruth in a slump during this series. Um…let’s just say that was inaccurate. In game 3 Ruth created a moment of baseball lore when he pointed to left field and “called his shot.”

Here comes a spoiler, so don’t read further if you want to discover the big movie moment at the movie and not here.

It’s the last game of the series. The Yankees are behind in the score, they’re demoralized, and Babe has had his last at bat and struck out. Yankee arrives with Darlin’ to save the day, but who will bat? There’s no spark in the Yankees line-up and somebody needs to go out and hit the ball. Well why not let this little boy have his chance. AAAAAAGH! I know it’s a childhood fantasy, but could the movie have given the kid his big moment back on the sandlot? No, here he is at Wrigley Field batting in the final game of the World Series. Must. Not. Gnash. Teeth. The illogic of such an illegal action just drove me batty (no pun intended).

I could have respected the movie for what it was except for that last silly bit. You think Yankees manager Joe McCarthy would even let something like that cross his mind? Much less have a stadium full of Cubs fan cheering for the Yankees’ miracle hit? I’m telling you, it makes me crazy.

So, you might enjoy the movie if you DON’T know anything about baseball. This all could seem very logical to you. Kids who don’t understand team rosters and have never heard of the Cubs can enjoy the game. The rest of us must just wince and do our dangedest to not stand up and scream, “NOOOOO!” in the movie theater.

Turning on the heater

Or putting the blanket on the bed tonight. We’ve got a freeze warning for Flagstaff.  I guess it is Fall.

Dilletanteville 1; Cat 0

In my Joy of Owning a Cat rant I talked about the disgusting habit of my cat, Lulu, to slaughter poor, defenseless animals…IN MY HOUSE. Well today her evil plans were foiled. I saved the stupid bird.

The bird would have been a goner if she hadn’t chirped. I’m awake in bed (went to bed verrrrry early last night) and heard the plaintive cry of a bird wondering how to get away from a demon cat. My response? “Noooooo! Nooooooo! Nooooo!” while scrambling out of bed. My screeching does seem to put Lulu off of her…er…game. The bird flew up and away from Lulu’s clutches. Lulu’s acrobatic leap into the air didn’t help. The bird fluttered out of reach of Lulu. I grabbed a dish towel and it was my turn to stalk the prey. I was determined. I was going to save the stupid bird.

Lulu and I both intently watched the bird try out different perches around the living room. None were just right and it would skitter off to another spot. I kept praying for the sanctity of my curtains – bird poop is a mess to clean up. I had to replace one set of curtains because of it. While the bird perched high, I swept Lulu up in my arms and opened the back door, thinking the bird may head out that way. Spencer barked excitedly. My downstairs neighbors must have been thrilled at the noise coming from my place at 6:45 on a Saturday morning. I didn’t care. I was saving that stupid bird.

The stupid bird flew into my bedroom and fluttered above my unmade bed. “Please, please, please don’t poop,” I prayed to the universe. The bird was good: no poop. Still, it stayed out of my reach. Flying from one side of my small bedroom to the other. The top of the bookcases and the top of the curtains seemed the preferred spots. Lulu, meanwhile, was out in the living room sitting atop the stereo with an attitude stating, “What? I didn’t want the silly thing anway.” Of course, I did. Remember? I’m saving the stupid bird.

Finally the silly thing jumped to the floor and I could drop my towel over it. See, I told you it was stupid. The floor? A cat could get it. Well, I got it and took it outside where it flew free. Now, after vacuuming the feathers and scrubbing the kitchen counter, I am sitting back sipping a lovely cup of tea. I’m feeling good. After all, I saved the stupid bird.

Down with Homework – up with Love

Or is that the other way around? I’m finally catching up on homework. The perfect movie to accompany taking a quiz, submitting a business card, and writing a discussion post about usability is the ridiculously frivolous Down with Love. This spoof of those Rock Hudson/Doris Day movies. A little too arch and stylized it still hits the marks for a sex-comedy of the 1960s. Starring Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger, the movie is fun to watch. The clothes, music, and plot are silly, but it fits. For someone who loves those Rock Hudson/Doris Day comedies you’ll appreciate David Hyde Pierce’s performance as the hero’s friend. He re-creates the Tony Randall role with flair.

Okay, back to the homework.  Only one more assignment to do. Sigh.

$500 Day

So, what makes a $500 day? Does it involve caviar and fancy champagne? Oh no. Nothing that extravagant. It’s just taking your old truck in for a brake check and getting a prescription filled.

Two weeks ago my truck started squeaking/squealing/grinding/making a noise. I figured it had something to do with the wheels and brakes. A brake replacement was the fix. While I had it in the shop (I love Coconino Motors) I asked them to check something else: the shocks. The truck has 130,000 miles on it and let’s just say that it doesn’t ride very smoothly. When I drive down to Phoenix I feel wrung out after over two hours on the road. Well, no wonder. The shocks were shot and had leaked out. Driving home it felt great. The cost? $452.

I had my well woman exam on Tuesday and got the usual check up. I’d been worried about a discoloration on my nose. As one of those fair-skinned, Arizona girls I’m very aware of the dangers of skin cancer. My “doctor” (I think she’s just a nurse) said it didn’t look like a growth, but more of a burst vessel. She pointed out all the red and vessel action around my nose that I might have rosacia. As someone who always has had this ruddiness for years, I have blamed it on stuffing Kleenexes up my nose for a good chunk of my life. Prone to allergies I’ve never been far from a box of Kleenex. This year it’s improved just from drinking tons of water. It really helps fight the runny nose. Anyway, the medicine? $40. That’s with my insurance paying for most of it. Jeez. We’ll see how it does, but if I have to pay that too often I may blow off the stuff and just live with my red nose.

All right, it wasn’t exactly a $500 day – it added up to only $492, but it was dang close.

Ann Richards – may she rest in peace

One of the politicians I loved to hear talk died today from cancer.
CNN.com – Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, 73, dies

She was a feisty, funny, and wonderful person. She came up with the wonderful line about George Bush: “Poor George….he can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.”